Ipswich Witches face Leicester in ‘biggest meeting of the season so far’

Ipswich Witches are facing their ‘biggest meeting of the season so far’ at Leicester tomorrow night, according to team boss Ritchie Hawkins.

With no speedway at Foxhall until Monday when Sheffield are in town, the Witches are on their travels to the east midlandson Thursday and will want to get back to winning ways after two disappointing defeats in the last six days.

“For me, it’s the biggest meeting of the season so far,” Hawkins said. “On the back of two disappointing results, it’s important we get points there.

“Leicester are a team who are going to fight to be in the play-offs, that’s obvious, and we need a win to keep in the mix. They are in better form than they were when we won at their place earlier in the season. But at least we know we’ve won there, so we go there confident.”

The Suffolk side lost at home to Wolverhampton last Thursday at Foxhall and were heavily beaten at Belle Vue on Monday night.

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It means the Witches are just out of the play-off positions as the Premiership table stands, but a good result against Leicester would rescue that.

Thursday’s teams

Lions: M Fricke, J Sedgmen, R Lawson, C Harris, N Morris, J Allen, D Kemp (guest)

Witches:J Doyle, B Barker, D King, K Rew, E Sayfutdinov, D Hume, J Thompson

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BELLE VUE and Wolverhampton both provided tough opponents for the Witches in the past week.

Last Thursday, Wolves came to Foxhall and, after a tight opening half to the meeting – the scores were all level after eight heats – the visitors took control in the second half, running out 41-49 victors.

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Again, Ipswich relied heavily on Jason Doyle and Emil Sayfutdinov for most of their points and this time the Witches, without KeynanRew, who was on SGP2 duty, gave their top two little back up.

It left Hawkins frustrated, as that is now two home defeats the Witches have suffered this season.

“We can’t rely on Jason and Emil to pull us out of trouble every week,” he said. “We need more points from other areas of the team.”

And it was a second defeat in five days on Monday night when the Witches went down by 20 points at Belle Vue – the Manchester club and current Premiership champions going back to the top of the Premiership table with the win.

Racing at the fantastic National Speedway Stadium is always exciting and gating first means nothing on a track where there are so many lines to pass.

“I didn’t feel we were as far off as the scoreline suggests,” Hawkins said.

“We got ourselves in good positions at times and just made mistakes. They were very, very slight errors but the Belle Vue boys really took advantage and showed their home track knowledge.”

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Witches No.1 Jason Doyle had a tricky night in Prague as the third Grand Prix of the season took place on Saturday.

The Aussie just failed to make the semi-finals and lost ground on the leaders at the top of the standings. However, his eight points keeps Doyle in fifth place in the standings.

There is little time for Doyle to ponder on what didn’t quite go right in Prague, including a couple of falls for the Witches man. The next Grand Prix of the series is this weekend, where Teterow, in Germany, stages the fourth GP of the season.

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While Jason Doyle was giving it his all in the Grand Prix of Prague, fellow Witch, KeynanRew, was making his debut in the SGP2 series – also in Prague the night before the main Grand Prix.

And Rew did himself proud, getting to the semi-finals, where he just missed out on a final place, being passed on the final corner.

Rew is slowly adapting to life in England with the Witches, and now the SGP2 series as well. He certainly has a bright future in the sport.

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Ipswich’s next home meeting is on Monday night at Foxhall Heath, against Sheffield Tigers.

If Wolverhampton and Belle Vue weren’t hard enough tests, this will be another for the Suffolk side, as Sheffield have riders who go well at Foxhall.

The Tigers are in good form as well and they burst King’s Lynn’s bubble last Thursday.

The Stars, proudly parading former world champion, Artem Laguta, for the first time at the Norfolk Arena, were dispatched 31-59 by the rampant Tigers – something for the Witches to note ahead of Monday’s big Premiership clash.

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Admission for fans on race night at Foxhall: Adults (17+) £22, concessions (65+) £20, children (16 and under) free, car parking is also free.

UPCOMING FIXTURES

Thurs., June 8 Leicester (Away), 7.30pm Prem

Mon., June 12 SHEFFIELD (HOME) 7.30pm Prem

Thurs., June 15 Sheffield (Away) 7.30pm Prem

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PREMIERSHIP TABLE

(Top 4 into play-offs)

Team P Pts

Belle Vue 10 17

Wolves 9 16

Sheffield 7 10

Leicester 7 10

Ipswich 8 8

King’s Lynn 7 5

Peterborough 8 2